TRON Founder Says Coinbase Requested $80M in TRX and $250M in BTC for Token Listing

TRON founder Justin Sun recently disputed Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's claim that the exchange offers free asset listings.

According to Sun, Coinbase requested 500 million TRX, valued at approximately $80 million, in exchange for listing TRON's native token.

Sun further claimed Coinbase asked for a $250 million Bitcoin deposit in Coinbase Custody, purportedly to boost liquidity for the platform.

“Lots of respect. But this is simply not true,” Sun said in response to Armstrong's claim that it requests no fees for token listing.

Binance Listed TRX Token Without any Fees

Sun also mentioned that Binance listed TRON without any fees.

Sun's statements were supported by Andre Cronje, co-founder of Sonic Labs, who shared similar experiences, claiming that Coinbase approached his teams with listing fees ranging from $30 million to $300 million.

Cronje's remarks surfaced after Simon Dedic, CEO of Moonrock Capital, raised concerns over listing fees on Binance, alleging that the exchange had asked for 15% of a project's total token supply—potentially costing some projects between $50 million and $100 million.

Binance charged us $0.

Coinbase has asked us for; $300m, $50m, $30m, and more recently $60m.

Lots of respect. But this is simply not true.

— Andre Cronje (@AndreCronjeTech) November 3, 2024

Dedic argued that such steep fees could harm project liquidity and lead to volatility, placing a heavy burden on emerging projects.

In response, Armstrong reiterated that Coinbase does not charge for asset listings, presenting the platform as a fee-free alternative to Binance.

It is worth noting that Luke Youngblood, a former Coinbase Cloud Engineer, challenged the claims made by Sun and Cronje, suggesting they might have encountered scammers impersonating Coinbase representatives, a known issue in the crypto industry.

“Coinbase doesn't charge for listings. They never have and never will,” he wrote.

Coinbase doesn't charge for listings. They never have and never will.

— LukeYoungblood.eth (@LukeYoungblood) November 3, 2024

Meanwhile, Coinbase revealed last week that the exchange has hit its peak workforce size in almost two years, suggesting a potential rebound in crypto industry hiring.

The growth is a hopeful indicator that the crypto sector may be recovering from the major market fluctuations that disrupted hiring in 2022.

In its latest quarterly update, Coinbase showed that the company ended Q3 with 3,672 full-time employees.

Justin Sun Scores Win Against SEC

In August, a New York District Judge denied a motion by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) aimed at weakening Tron founder Justin Sun's defense.

The ruling, delivered by United States District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos, represents a setback for the SEC as it continues its case against Sun.

The case, which began in March 2023, alleges that Sun and the Tron Foundation engaged in the unregistered offer and sale of securities, manipulative trading, and illegal promotion of crypto assets, specifically Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) tokens.

In response, Sun and his legal team moved to dismiss the lawsuit in April, arguing that the SEC lacks jurisdiction over foreign digital asset transactions conducted on global platforms.

In April, the SEC edited its Tron lawsuit against Sun and his crypto companies following his attempted dismissal of the litigation.

In the updated court filings, the SEC claimed that the Tron founder "traveled extensively" to the U.S. throughout "his work on behalf of the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and/or Rainberry."

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